Tropical Storm Barry Goes Ashore on Southeastern Mexico

Tropical Storm Barry went ashore
today in the Mexican state of Veracruz and is expected to weaken
rapidly over land, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

The storm, with top winds of 40 miles (64 kilometers) per
hour, was 60 miles northwest of the coastal city of Veracruz,
moving west at 5 mph, the Miami center said in an advisory at
about 10:30 a.m. East Coast time.

Barry developed from a depression into a tropical storm
yesterday in the Bay of Campeche, where Petroleos Mexicanos, the
nation’s state-owned oil company, has most of its production.
The Mexican oil ports of Dos Bocas and Cayo Arcas were closed
yesterday, the nation’s merchant marine said.

The storm may bring 3 to 5 inches (8 to 13 centimeters) of
rain across southern Mexico, with as much as 10 inches in some
areas, according to the hurricane center. A tropical storm
warning was posted from Punta El Lagarto to Tuxpan.

As a tropical depression, Barry dropped heavy rain over
Belize and Guatemala, then strengthened after it moved over the
warm waters of the bay.

A system becomes a tropical storm and gets a name when its
sustained winds reach 39 mph. Barry is the second named storm in
the Atlantic this year. The 2012 Atlantic hurricane season had
19 named storms for the third year in a row.